ISI Markets has launched a new AI-powered platform for investors, bankers and advisers focused on emerging market corporate and sovereign debt, as demand grows for faster and more transparent credit intelligence across frontier economies.

The platform combines ISI’s market intelligence capabilities with REDD’s debt analysis tools, providing coverage across public bonds, private credit and primary debt issuance. The launch follows the rollout of REDD for Sovereign Debt six months ago and reflects growing investor demand for more integrated credit analysis tools in emerging markets.

Designed for investors, investment banks, legal advisers and restructuring teams, the platform aims to address longstanding challenges in emerging market debt investing, including fragmented information, opaque capital structures and uneven disclosure standards.

“Improved access to real-time, AI-driven corporate debt intelligence can help reduce the information gaps that have long characterised emerging market credit,” an ISI spokesperson said.

“The key shift is not just faster access to information, but faster interpretation of credit-relevant developments across issuers and markets,” the spokesperson told Africa Global Funds.

The platform aggregates financial data, restructuring developments, M&A activity, company news and research into a single interface, enabling users to track issuers throughout the debt lifecycle, from origination through to secondary market performance.

ISI said it currently covers around 2,400 international hard-currency bond issuers across emerging and frontier markets, with the majority made up of corporate issuers. Coverage spans Africa, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

In Africa, sovereign issuers form a major part of the platform’s focus. Countries actively covered include Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, Benin, Namibia, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, Uganda, Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Gabon, Mozambique, Zambia, Ethiopia and Republic of the Congo.

The company said its reporting includes proprietary coverage of restructuring situations and distressed debt developments, with local reporting teams often identifying developments ahead of broader market reactions.

“In regions where disclosure standards and transparency remain uneven — including parts of Africa — investors have historically relied on fragmented and highly manual research processes,” the spokesperson said.

“AI-driven intelligence helps address this by making it easier to extract and contextualise valuable insights from large volumes of debt documents, filings and market information, enabling earlier identification of refinancing pressures, liquidity concerns, restructuring signals and other material credit developments.”

A central feature of the platform is AskISI, an AI-powered research tool that enables users to analyse more than 7,000 bond prospectuses, reports and related documents. The tool is designed to help investors identify potential risks and opportunities more efficiently while reducing research time.

The platform also includes screening tools, personalised alerts, custom watchlists and report-building functions intended to streamline workflows for portfolio managers, credit analysts and dealmakers.

The launch comes at a time when emerging market borrowers are facing tighter global financing conditions, refinancing pressure and increased scrutiny from investors. For African sovereign and corporate issuers, where access to timely debt intelligence can often be limited, the use of AI-driven research tools may play an increasing role in shaping investment decisions and risk management.

“Over time, better debt intelligence infrastructure can support more informed capital allocation, improved risk management and greater confidence in under-covered markets,” the ISI spokesperson said.